Henry Martyn Robert

“ A quorum, that is the number that must be present in order to transact business, is a majority of the committee. A committee has no right to discipline any of its members: if any member obstructs business, its only recourse is to report the facts to the assembly for its action. If a committee finds that its investigations will involve expense that has not been authorized, it must obtain from the assembly such authority before incurring the expense. ”

“ A main motion is not in order which is practically the same as one that the assembly has already had before it during the same session, or is in the possession, or under the control of the assembly so that the main motion can be brought before it again for action when the assembly so desires. Confusion would result from allowing any member to introduce to the assembly a question practically the same as one that is then in the hands of a committee, or on the table, or that has been postponed to another time, or that may be reached by calling up the motion to reconsider. ”

“ In an assembly which has no provision for another meeting, the motion to adjourn is a main motion without any privilege. In organized societies, however, it is always a privileged motion unless it is qualified, as to adjourn to a certain time. ”

“ The object of rules is to assist an assembly in its effort to ascertain and express the deliberate opinion of the members regarding the questions upon which they are called to take action. If there are no rules, or established customs that have the force of rules, there is no restraint upon the majority, and no way by which the rights of the minority can be protected. ”

“ Without some knowledge of this subject one is powerless in an assembly where his opponents are skilled parliamentarians, and therefore, in a land where perhaps most of the persons who have reached the age of sixteen years are members of one or more societies, some knowledge of parliamentary law may be justly regarded as a necessary part of the education of every man and woman, every boy and girl. ”

“ With the exception of the rules relating to the transaction of business in the meetings, the by-laws of a society include all the rules of such importance that they cannot be changed in any way without previous notice. ”

“ But such meetings are not meetings of deliberative assemblies in the fullest sense, where members have the rights and privileges which they have at the business meetings. It would be manifestly improper in a meeting with a musical program to allow members the right to introduce questions and to engage in debate the same as in a business meeting. Those who attend the meeting to hear the music, or the addresses, or whatever the program calls for, have the right not to be interfered with, except in an extreme emergency, of which the president is usually the best judge. ”

“ The chair should always stand while putting the question, but it is not necessary for him to stand while stating it.
If the negative is in the majority, the chair announces the vote thus: "The noes have it and the resolution [or motion] is lost." If the vote is a tie, that is, an equal number on each side, it is announced thus, "There are ——— in the affirmative and ——— in the negative. There being a tie, the motion is lost." The chairman, if a member of the assembly, may vote whenever his vote will affect the result, or when the vote is by ballot or by roll call. ”

“ If the inquiry is made when another has the floor and there is no necessity for answering it immediately, the chair may defer his answer until the speaker has closed his remarks. It is not the duty of the chairman to answer questions of parliamentary law in general. If, however, a member asks for information that may be necessary to enable him to make a suitable motion, or to raise a point of order, or to vote intelligently, it is the duty of the chairman to answer the question. ”

“ Instead of a formal motion to suspend the rules, it is more usual to ask for general consent to do the particular business that is out of order. As soon as the request is made the chair inquires if there is any objection, and if no one objects, he directs the member to proceed just as if the rules had been suspended by a formal vote. Standing rules may be suspended by a majority vote. ”

“ When an order is adopted limiting debate, it applies equally to any new amendment or other interrupting motion as long as the order is in force. Therefore it is unnecessary to specify the motions upon which debate is to be limited if nothing is pending except a main motion. ”

“ When it is desired to consider a question in an assembly with the freedom of a committee, a motion should be made to consider the question informally. This motion has the same rank as to commit, and if it is adopted members may speak on the main question and its amendments as often as they can obtain the floor. In recognizing members as having the floor the chair must give the preference to members who have not spoken. ”

“ Should there be any disturbing element such as conversation in the room, or an open door admitting noise or causing a draft, or anything whatever affecting any one's rights or privileges as a member of the assembly, he may rise to a "question of privilege." ”

“ It is impossible to have a subsidiary motion unless there is another motion pending to which it is subsidiary. Therefore if a motion is made in the form of a subsidiary at a time when no question is pending, it is a main motion. ”

“ Having a nominating ballot and afterwards declaring it to be the electing ballot does away with all the advantages of a nominating ballot and is identical in effect with having an electing ballot without any nominations. ”

“ No one can speak in debate, except by permission of the assembly, more than twice on the same question on the same day, nor longer than ten minutes at one time. On an appeal from the decision of the chair, [3] no one but the chairman can speak more than once. No member can speak a second time on a question if any member who has not spoken upon that question desires to speak. The member making a debatable motion has the right to the floor for debate, if he claims it with reasonable promptness, in preference to other members even if they rose and addressed the chair first. ”

“ He must have sufficient knowledge of committees to enable him, without embarrassment, to serve as chairman of one. He must thoroughly understand the subject of amendments, which is the most important, and, perhaps, the most difficult part of parliamentary law. ”

“ In case the committee makes recommendations and neglects to submit resolutions to carry them out, the recommendations should all be repeated at the close of the report and the committee's chairman should move their adoption. If this motion is adopted the recommendations become the recommendations of the assembly the same as if it had originated them. It is seldom that a report should contain recommendations without resolutions to carry them out. ”

“ A nominating ballot is for the purpose of allowing each member an opportunity to nominate secretly not more than one person for each position. Thus in the present case a ballot may contain one, two, three, or four names at the discretion of the voter. But if it contains more than four names it has to be rejected, as there are only four delegates to be elected, and no member has a right to nominate more than one person for each position. Any person receiving even a single vote is nominated. The report of the tellers shows that eight persons have been nominated. ”

“ Instead of the tellers collecting the ballots, many societies provide a stationary ballot box in which the ballots are deposited by the voters or by a teller to whom they are handed by the voters. The latter method is the better. Where this plan is adopted the polls are said to be open all the time during which members may deposit their ballots. If the society is in session during the voting, it may close the polls by a two-thirds vote after a reasonable time has been given members to prepare and to deposit their ballots. ”

“ A question postponed to a certain time has no right to interrupt business pending at that time, but as soon as such business is disposed of it has the right to consideration before all main questions except special orders. ”

“ If a motion includes several independent resolutions, it must be divided on the demand or request of a single member so that the resolutions may be acted upon separately. If a main motion or an amendment contains two or more parts each of which is capable of standing as a complete proposition if the others are removed, it can be divided into two or more propositions to be considered and voted on as distinct questions by the assembly's adopting a motion to divide the question in a specified manner. ”

“ When any request is to be made the member rises and addresses the chair, and as soon as he secures the chairman's attention states why he rises. He should rise as soon as a member yields the floor and, though the floor is assigned to another, he still makes his request. He should never interrupt a member while speaking unless he is sure that the urgency of the case demands it. As a rule all such questions are settled by general consent, or informally, but if objection is made a vote is taken. ”

“ If only one of these methods is mentioned, the chair assumes that to be the will of the assembly just as if a vote had been taken. Otherwise the chair puts the questions to vote without any motion in the order (1) , (2) , (3) without reference to the order in which they were made. If it is adopted the chair at once calls for nominations from the floor. If objection is made no member can nominate more than one member of the committee, until every member has had an opportunity to make a nomination. Except in very large bodies nominations are made by calling out the name without rising. ”

“ Business in Meetings Designed for Other Purposes. In many societies there is practically no business transacted except at the annual meeting when the reports for the year are received and acted upon, officers are elected, and committees appointed, etc. Other societies find it convenient also to have regular business meetings quarterly, or even monthly, these meetings frequently being in connection with, and at the close of, the regular literary, musical, scientific, social, or religious meeting. These business meetings are under the rules of deliberative assemblies. ”

“ The secretary should never allow the minutes to express his opinion, complimentary or otherwise. The minutes are a record of action taken by the society, and the secretary's duty is solely that of recording its action. Ordinarily the minutes of each meeting are read at the opening of the next meeting. If there is more than one meeting in the day the minutes are read only at the first meeting. In organizations meeting less frequently than quarterly, the minutes of the last day's meeting are read just previous to final adjournment of the session. ”

“ If there are several candidates for membership and only one vacancy, the president directs that each member write on his slip the name of the candidate for whom he votes. This latter method is also adopted in the election of officers when each officer is voted for by a separate ballot which is not printed. In the case of electing an officer the voting is not limited to candidates that have been nominated.
When the ballots have been prepared the president directs the tellers to collect them. This should be done in such a way that the tellers do not see for whom the votes are cast. ”

“ When the ballot is printed with only one candidate for each office, the voter makes no mark upon it unless he wishes not to vote for a candidate. In this case he crosses out the printed name and replaces it, if he wishes, by the name of his choice. If the names of more than one candidate for an office are printed, he puts a cross at the right or the left of the name of his choice, unless he wishes to vote for another candidate. ”

“ While, as a general rule, free debate on the pending question is allowed, to prevent a minority from making an improper use of this privilege, it is necessary to allow the assembly by a two-thirds vote to limit the debate or to close it immediately. The motions to accomplish these objects may be applied to any debatable motion, whatever its rank. They cannot be debated. An order limiting or closing debate is exhausted, or dead, and is no longer in force, at the close of the session at which it was adopted. [See Previous Question, page 74.] ”

“ A majority vote is all that is required for the adoption of any proper motion except those in the list of motions requiring a two-thirds vote, page 174. A majority vote is necessary for an election, unless the by-laws, or a vote of the society, authorizes a plurality to elect. ”